


Seeing You As Someone Else

by superangsty



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Established Relationship, I think that by now we've established I suck at tagging these things, I'm not called superangsty for nothing, I'm not entirely sure that it stayed that way, Kid Fic, Kid Tony Stark, M/M, SteveTonyFest, he has feelings, i think???, lets pretend that age of ultron never happened, please, stac, steve doesn't like kids, this was meant to be fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2015-07-06
Packaged: 2018-04-08 00:53:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4284444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superangsty/pseuds/superangsty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce was the first to speak, quietly introducing himself. “Tony, I’m Doctor Bruce Banner.” He waited for Tony to nod in greeting before continuing. “We’re in the year 2015. There was a mishap with a spell, and the older version of you seems to have been replaced with” Bruce waved vaguely towards Tony “this version of you.”</p><p>Or, the one where Tony gets de-aged and it turns out that Steve doesn't really like kids.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seeing You As Someone Else

**Author's Note:**

  * For [satbiym](https://archiveofourown.org/users/satbiym/gifts).



> So this is for the stevetonyfest gift exchange thingy ma gummy, I had started writing something completely different for this, but then that didn't work out, so I eneded up doing this. Mostly because I've been meaning to do a fic where Steve doesn't like kids for a while and this gave me the perfect excuse. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

“You’re, uh, you’re small…”

The child looked up at Steve, an expression on his face which was far too serious for a kid that couldn’t be older than… seven? Yeah, seven seemed about right. “And you’re Captain America.”

Steve plastered on his best grin, replying with “Yeah, that’s right! So you know who I am?”

“Obviously.” At that, Steve felt relief wash over him. Maybe the de-aging was only in appearance, maybe it hadn’t affected memory. “You’re wearing the uniform, after all. And my father’s been looking for you for as long as I can remember.”

“Oh.” So memory _had_ been affected. “Do you – “

The child – Steve couldn’t think of him as Tony, it seemed wrong – interrupted him, frowning slightly. “But he hasn’t found you. He got back from his trip last week, and he hadn’t found you. You’re not the _real_ Captain America, you can’t be.”

He sounded genuinely worried, and Steve had absolutely no idea how to respond. “Um… well, I – you know what? Let’s get you home, okay?” any of the other Avengers would be a million times better at explaining than him “We’ll get you into clothes that fit, and you can have some ice cream. You like ice cream, right?” Did kids like ice cream? Probably. Hopefully.

“Back to the mansion?”

“Ummmm…” Steve glanced around, trying to hide the panic in his eyes.

Clint must have seen, because he suddenly appeared at Steve’s side, rolling his eyes before scooping the child up into his arms. “Hey, kiddo. My name is Clint Barton, I’m an agent of SHIELD. You know SHIELD, right?”

The child nodded. “SHIELD is where Aunt Peggy works. Sometimes she makes my father build things for them.”

Huh. Tony had never mentioned that he knew Peggy, not even in passing. Steve couldn’t help but wonder why he didn’t want people knowing about it.

Steve quickly followed when Clint started walking, still carrying the child. “So do you trust me?” Another nod. “Okay, well we’re not going to the mansion, we’re going to a tower. Captain America and I live there, along with some of our friends. We’ll be taking care of you for a little while, okay?”

“Okay.”

 

~***~

 

_“Hey Rogers, since when were you so awful with kids? Didn’t you used to go around like, kissing babies and sh – and stuff?”_

_“Never really liked them. I only put up with them because people kept reminding me I had to ‘maintain my public image’. And since when were you so good with kids?”_

_“I’m pretty much the exact opposite of you. I love kids, but most aspects of my job aren’t exactly…family friendly, y’know?”_

 

~***~

 

Tony was sat at the head of the table, the rest of the Avengers all facing him with grave expressions as they tried to work out what, exactly, to say to him. Steve couldn’t help but think what a sight they must be, the entire team looking like concerned parents talking to their child. Except that there were five of them. They’d make a weird family.

Bruce was the first to speak, quietly introducing himself. “Tony, I’m Doctor Bruce Banner.” He waited for Tony to nod in greeting before continuing. “We’re in the year 2015. There was a mishap with a spell, and the older version of you seems to have been replaced with” Bruce waved vaguely towards Tony “ _this_ version of you.”

Everyone braced themselves, preparing for Tony to freak out. He was, after all, only a kid. Steve could vouch for the fact that it’s all kinds of traumatising to suddenly be in the future, and he’s an adult. He’d expect it to be a thousand times worse with a kid.

But all Tony said was “Okay.”

He stayed quiet for a moment, considering, before asking “My butler, Jarvis. Is he..?”

The question was directed at Bruce, and so he was the one that replied. “It’s been a long time, Tony. And there’s no cure for old age.” He was frowning slightly as he said it, and Steve could tell that the same thing was going round his head as was going round Steve’s: why had he asked after his butler and not his parents?

Tony’s face fell. “Oh.”

The room became silent again, nobody sure quite what to say. It was Clint that broke the silence, saying “But the older you _did_ make an artificial intelligence, you know what that is, right?” Tony nodded “Right, of course you do. But anyway, the older you made an artificial intelligence just like your butler. Um, JARVIS?”

“Agent Barton.” The AI greeted before talking to Tony “Hello, Master Stark. My name is JARVIS, and you created me.”

“I _made_ you?! That is _so cool_.” Tony was grinning, glancing around the room to work out where to look when talking to JARVIS. This was the most enthusiastic Steve had seen Tony since the whole de-aging thing. It was nice, it made him seem more like his older self.

Tony continued babbling excitedly to JARVIS for a few minutes, before he apparently got all the answers he needed, because he addressed the Avengers again, his expression once again serious. “You said there was a spell. Magic isn’t real.”

“Perhaps not on this world, but where I am from, magic is very common.” Thor explained. “It was my brother who brought it here.”

“You’re an alien?”

“In general terms, yes.”

“And how do I know an alien?”

Steve figured it would be best if he explained this next part, considering that he was the team leader and all, so he started speaking, not quite looking at Tony but instead at a point on the wall _behind_ Tony. “You’re a superhero. Like me, like everyone else here. We’re a team called the Avengers, and we save the world sometimes.”

Bruce added to that with “and you’re a really important part of that, so I’ll be working as hard as I can to get you back to the right age.”

 

~***~

 

_“Are you sure you’ll be able to get Tony back?”_

_“About 80% sure.”_

_“And what if we don’t?”_

_“Look, Steve. I know this is hard on you more than it is the rest of us. But just hope for the best, and we’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.”_

~***~

 

Having brought Tony back to the tower, it only took one hour and a call to Pepper for them to have everything they needed to take care of him for the foreseeable future. In that hour, Pepper had apparently had enough time to go grocery shopping, because apparently it’s bad to live off takeaway. And she’d bought clothes. So, _so_ many clothes, almost as many as adult Tony had, and all from the same ridiculous designer stores he insisted on shopping at. She’d also picked up some toys, although Steve wasn’t entirely sure that they counted as ‘toys’, since they were more like things you’d expect to see in a workshop at MIT, not in a child’s room. But, he supposed, this was _Tony_ , he was hardly ordinary.

They’d all helped to set up one of the many spare rooms for Tony to sleep in, making sure that it was as comfortable as possible for him. The poor kid was exhausted; it had been a very eventful day for him.

(Steve had offered to take a spare room instead, but everyone had insisted that moving Tony _into_ a room would be easier than moving Steve _out of_ one.)

Tony fell asleep pretty quickly after everything had been sorted out. In fact, _everyone_ had fallen asleep pretty quickly. Battles were always exhausting, and with the added stress of Tony suddenly being younger it was a wonder they hadn’t all collapsed before they had the chance to get to their beds.

But Steve was still awake, and try as he might he just couldn’t get to sleep, which is how he ended up in the main living area of the tower, curled up on the sofa in front of the TV.

“Can’t sleep?”

Steve turned around to see Clint standing behind him, clutching a mug of hot chocolate. “Not really, no. You too?” Clint nodded, so Steve offered “Wanna sit with me?”

“Thanks.” Clint replied, settling down, careful not to spill any of the hot chocolate. “What’s keeping you up?”

“It’s just – “ he blushed “It’s weird sleeping in an empty bed.”

“Ah, right. Tony. If it makes you feel any better, I know exactly how you feel.”

“You, uh, you do?” Steve was pretty sure he didn’t remember Clint ever having someone stay the night, never mind actually live in the tower with him.

“My…” Clint paused, trying to find the right word to use “…My better half died in the battle of New York. I’ve barely been able to sleep since.”

Oh. Steve felt guilty, because at least Tony was still _alive_ , at least Steve still had him, sort of. “Clint, the battle of New York was over two years ago…” he said gently.

“Yeah, I know.”

 

~***~

 

_“Rise and shine, sleepyhead.”_

_“Natasha, it’s too early for you to be waking me up.”_

_“Tough luck, Cap. Somebody thought it would be a good idea to offer Tony pancakes, before they remembered that you’re the only one who can actually_ make _pancakes.”_

_“…I’ll be in the kitchen in a minute.”_

~***~

 

The thing Steve found weird was that after the initial shock, after everybody was done freaking out about the fact that ‘holy shit Tony is a kid now’, it was actually pretty easy to fall into a new routine with him. Tony and Bruce would spend most of the day in Bruce’s labs, Bruce running tests on Tony whilst Tony worked on whatever Bruce had decided to occupy him with on that particular day. Everyone in the tower took turns cooking (except Thor, who somehow managed to set fire to the fridge his first time in the kitchen), and they actually spent a lot more of their down time together, watching films or playing board games, or even just talking.

In battles where they would normally need Tony, they started to call in Rhodey instead. He would always grumble about how he had ‘better things to do with his time than saving the world _again_ ’, but Steve could tell that he was happy to help out in Tony’s absence. Although, every time he showed up, he looked more worried, more stressed. Steve supposed it was fair. The longer Tony stayed a kid, the less likely it was that they’d get him back, and he doubted that Rhodey was ready to lose his best friend.

 Steve, for the most part, avoided Tony like the plague. Sure, he saw him when everyone was together, but that was it. He was very careful not to be alone with him, because he had _absolutely no idea_ how to act. He was used to older Tony, he knew how to deal with him. It had taken a long time, but he had learnt exactly how to behave around Tony, what to say, what to do. He knew every one of Tony’s tells, could know whether he was tired, or hungry, or whatever from just a single look. But _this_ Tony, the kid, was completely new terrain, and it was terrifying.

Eventually, though, Tony must have realised something was up, because he cornered Steve one day. “Steve, have I done anything wrong?”

“What? No, of course you haven’t.” Steve thought the question was kinda coming out of nowhere, but he tried to respond as carefully as possible. “This has been a lot for you to deal with, but you’ve been doing really well. Why, did somebody say something to you?”

“No, no, it’s just that – um,” Tony stared at the ground, shuffling his feet awkwardly “All the others talk to me, and you don’t, really. Are you sure I didn’t do anything wrong?”

“I’m sure.”

“So what is it, then? Did you, um, did you hate the older me?”

“No! No, I definitely didn’t…” In fact, it was the exact opposite of that. But Steve wasn’t about to say that to young Tony when he hadn’t even said it to the _older_ Tony yet.

“Oh. Okay. I guess you’re just busy, then. I’m sorry for bothering you, I’ll just – “ He turned to walk away, but Steve put a hand on his shoulder, crouching down so that they were eye to eye.

Tony looked disappointed, but also kind of resigned, like he had been expecting this to happen. Pepper had mentioned that Tony’s parents had been distant, but he hadn’t realised quite _how_ distant they had been until just then. “You’re not bothering me. I’m sorry I’ve been avoiding you, Tony. I’m just not that great with kids. Never have been, probably never will be.”

It looked like Tony was still unconvinced, so he continued. “I was… very close to the older you. And I wouldn’t expect you to understand, but every time I look at you I’m expecting to see him. But it never is, and it hurts me inside.”

Tony paused for a moment, considering what he’d just said, before stating “You loved him.”

It wasn’t a question, not really, but Steve still replied with “Yes, I did. I do.”

 

~***~

 

_“Steve, holy shit, get down to the labs!”_

_“Why, what happened? Is Tony okay?”_

_“More than okay. Just get off your ass and come and see for yourself.”_

~***~

 

It had taken a month, but Bruce must finally have worked it out, because the minute Steve stepped out of the elevator he saw not the little kid he was starting to get used to, but instead the completely normal adult-sized Tony. He was so busy staring at him through the glass wall of the lab that he almost forgot to actually go _into_ the lab. When he realised that he was being unnecessarily slow, Steve quickly rushed into the lab, joining the others standing around Tony.

He nudged past Bruce and Thor so that he was standing directly in front of Tony, who was grinning up at him as if he was the best sight in the world.

“Hey, Cap. You miss me?”

Steve should’ve thought of a snarky response, just like he normally did, but he was feeling far too overwhelmed to think of a comeback right then. Instead, he just huffed, shaking his head slightly before lunging forwards to hug Tony as tight as he could. “Don’t you dare do something like that again.”

Tony patted his back, chuckling. “Aw, but Steve, how else am I supposed to get you to confess your undying love for me?”

Ah. “You, uh, you remember that?”

“I think it’d be pretty hard to forget.”

“Doesn’t count, I was talking to little kid version of you, not the _actual_ version of you.”

“Well then, anything you’d like to share with the class, Steve?”

Steve would really, really rather not do this in front of the rest of the Avengers, but hey. He supposed it was as good a time as he was ever going to get. He pulled out of the hug with Tony, his hands instead gripping the other man’s shoulders as he looked into his eyes and said “Tony Stark, I love you. Have done for a while now.”

He wasn’t sure what response he was expecting from Tony, but it certainly hadn’t been a measly “Okay.” But before Steve could leave in order to not face the embarrassment, Tony continued. “I love you too, you idiot. Do you really think I would’ve been with you for so long if I didn’t?”

“No, of course not.” And Steve was trying to fight his grin, really, he was, it just wasn’t really working.

“Now, ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to kiss my boyfriend now, so avert your eyes if you wish.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Tony grabbed Steve’s shirt and pulled him in for a kiss, grinning as the rest of their team made disgusted noises and started leaving the lab.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, I hope you liked it! As always please leave comments below to let me know what you think, or you can always come talk to me on my [tumblr](http://superangsty.tumblr.com)!


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